Twilight Requiem
by DevonF
Summary: Everything changed the day the sky boiled black. If only her parents and Aro had made different choices that fateful day long ago, then perhaps things may not have become so dire. A one shot (probably)..
1. Chapter 1

Renesmee looked out through the cobweb shrouded window, the faint red glow of sunrise kissing her face. This was as bright as the day would get.

_The light lost to the dark storm._

Everything changed the day the sky boiled black.

_Not her fault. The one thing that wasn't._

She tore her gaze away, always the same. If only her parents and Aro had made different choices that fateful day, then perhaps things may not have become so dire.

When the sky darkened, Vampire-kind were able to slink from the shadows and insinuate themselves more deeply in human affairs.

_What came after… was inevitable. _

The culling, the war, the bitter struggle which had been skewed from the start in the Volturi's favor.

The Humans had their apocalypse, leaving the vampires to rule the remnant with an iron fist.

Her self imposed exile had been necessary. The remnant had seen her as some sort of messiah. _Her!_

She bent down to lace up the battered trainers. The blood stains from their former owner were still there. No matter how hard she scrubbed, they never came out.

_Another secret that she could never share._

All she had done in her life was run. That was all she knew how to do, she didn't know how to rule, organize an army, or be the strategist of a revolution.

They hadn't understood her refusal to take the mantle of leadership, _especially him_.

They had danced around each other, repelled by the unopposable force of their unique situation, yet the gravity of their link had held them close enough to intensify their torture. This tenuous push-pull connection had been abruptly severed when she left that long dark night. The twilight of their hope before despair fell.

_Jacob._

The former big brother who had become her biggest stumbling block. Not because of how she felt about him, but because of how he had felt about her. He would have no choice but to take her off that messianic pedestal now, and see her for what she was. _Weak_, her humanity hamstringing her just as much as her Vampiric self. Stuck between two worlds and too frail to exist in either. But she had been strong enough to leave, yes, at least there had been that. That one moment of pride before she entered the prison of her eternal shame.

_Nothing to do but hide and hope that there was someone else, someone worthy of their worship, some day._

she opened the door and stepped outside, her breath turning to mist in the frigid air. _It's Time to run again._

_AN: A picture of a post-apocalyptic twilight world rolled into my mind this morning- and simply had to write it down. Hope you enjoyed my little experiment. This will probably be a one shot unless inspiration takes me captive and I'm unable to wriggle from it's grasp._


	2. Chapter 2 Storm

It stinks. Renesmee wrinkled up her nose, and stepped over a particularly putrid plant. Its weeping gelatinous mass sucking at the excess nitrogen that had become so epidemic in their atmosphere.

The rain-forest of Olympic peninsula had became a wild and fetid place. She resisted the urge to breath deeply, instead taking shallow breaths through her mouth.

She climbed quickly, the rock face no more an impediment to her, than a small stone. Once at the top she opened her bag, seizing the binos.

Lightning forked through the dark clouds to the south, _another storm was coming._

_[flashback] _

"_Daddy can I have a Telescope so I can see the comet." Edward grins, dimples deepening, the golden eyes radiate amusement. "But Renesmee, it's coming very close, we will be able to see it clearly with the naked eye."_

"_I want to see it even closer, please." He laughed softly picking her up and pressing his forehead to hers gently, "Very well," His voice a deep rumble from within accompanied by an even deeper smile. He would do anything for his little girl._

_XXX_

To the east she see something through the trees, a rooftop, no smoke, likely uninhabited. _Lucky for them_ she thought dolefully. Satisfied she tore her gaze away for the claustrophobic binocular view of the darkening horizon. She would need to find shelter, and soon.

_[Flashback] _

_It had been a perfect night when the comet graced their skies, creating an aura of effervescent excitement. A celestial event unlike any that had been before. The air was crisp, there were no clouds and the moon cut a scythe sharp crescent. Bella ran a hand over Renesmee's softly curled hair. Renesmee looked away from the eyepiece with a frown, then seeing her mothers smile, her expression softened. "It's beautiful" Bella said looking up at the brilliant new star arcing it way across the heavens. "Maybe it's leaving a trail for the Angels to follow," She murmured whimsically then a wry grin pulled at her lips. Renesmee laughed and found herself wishing it was so._

_Some said the comet was a sign. Perhaps it was, but it wasn't the type they had been hoping for._

_XXX_

It didn't take long, she circled the hut first, drawing a deep breath, even though she loathed to do so. It was impossible to track using smell alone in these parts. Both an advantage and a disadvantage, at least they couldn't track her. She pushed the door open revealing nothing save for cold and empty space. Safe. She had been on the run for 6 months now, subsisting on whatever she could scrounge and those opportunities that fell (or stumbled) across her path. Her parents would be ashamed of her, if they knew what she done to survive.

_[flashback] _

"_You're so brave, I'm so very proud of you." Her mothers voice cracked as the barely stoppered tears began to burst free. Her arms wrapped around Renesmee, trapping her. It's too tight, almost suffocating, but Renesmee knows her mother needs this so she can be brave too. The room is stilted in silence, the kind of hush only brought on by the worst of news. A tear drips on her nose, it tickles but she doesn't wipe it away. It's warm. Jacob entered, his gaze dragged over the other Cullen's before sticking to her… staying far longer than necessary._

_XXX_

She lit the fire with a shower of sparks. Her numb fingers clutched the sharp flint desperately as if to draw heat from inside the stone itself. Outside the dark deepened and the wind began intensify, rattling the cracked window pane. The draft whistles through under the door, dust is kicked up and spirals dizzily in the dim orange fire-light. _She'd stayed in worse places, but had also been in better._

_[Flashback]_

"_At least we are safe here." Her mother said with a shaky sigh. "The worlds going crazy," Jasper drawled, " I've always wondered what that would look like." Alice dug him in the ribs. Jacob smirked arms crossed leaning against the door, trying to look at home. But Renesmee knew he was never at home when the Cullens were around. The closed body language, tense shoulders and tight mouth gave him away. Like he was treading broken glass, even around her._

_XXX_

She searched the shadowy cupboards, sometimes she got lucky and found things left behind. This time wasn't lucky, just bare shelves greeted her. She fished around in her bag and pulled out the last can of tuna. She looked down at it unenthusiastically, then tucked her finger under the tab, ripping off the top. The oily fish barely filled the gap that growled for something more…substantial, something warm and coppery. The wind pounded against the door. She turned quickly, eyes widened, senses heightened, _was it just the wind? _

_[Flashback]_

" _They said there were microbes in the comets dust trail. They hit our atmosphere and bloomed…multiplied. That's why it is dark. It has nothing to do with some muddled words in a musty old codex," Renesmee grated out, fists clenched and face flushed. Her Parents looked at each other desperately. _

_She wasn't a child any more! She didn't believe in fairy tales or happily ever afters._

"_If we don't believe this happened for a reason, we will loose hope." Alice pleaded, her cloudy unseeing eyes unerringly focused on Renesmee. She resisted the urge to squirm beneath her aunts dulled gaze. "You can't believe in me… I don't even believe in myself."_

"_I believe in you," That familiar voice cut through her defenses and she visibly recoiled. Her voice shook and eyes blazed as she turned on Jacob, "Don't you dare…"_

_XXX_

She stood and walked over to the window daring to look through. It looked just like night, even though it was too early. Then the lightning flashed, making the shadows recoil, exposing a myriad of greens. One shadow however did not give in to the strobing light. The figure cut a stubborn shape between slick, algae coated trees. Her gut twisted, the barely digestible fish threatening to make the floorboards its home.

"_You can't leave, I won't let you." _Even as those words reared up within her memory, she grit her teeth and barred her mind against them.

_ Had they found her? _She stormed to the door opening it, a gust of wind catching it, _Bang! _It hit the wall inside, causing her to flinch. She stood in the doorway, baring the way and snarled into the wind. She could scent nothing, just that cursed fish on her hands and in her breath. The Interloper approached with the daring confident steps of a predator facing down a hapless prey. Whoever they were, they were sadly mistaken in their apparent estimation of her.

_AN: Managed to find some time to update this wee experiment. Hopefully it's moderately enjoyable, or interesting, and that the flashbacks aren't too annoying (an effort to try something a little different on my part). It's slightly Science Fiction skewed - an unavoidable tendency of mine since it's my favorite genre. :)  
_


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